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Review: Penny Lane by Jeff Lake and Cellophane Flowers

Like most kids growing up with a keen interest in music, I went through my phase of adoring The Beatles, and although my phase didn't go on long enough for me to fully explore the depths of their music, it did implant me with a lifelong appreciation for them. For me personally though it wasn't their musical experimentation and forward-thinking production styles that gripped me as it did for so many, but simply the quality and veracity of their song-writing, and as such I always preferred The Beatles more overtly pop output. Most of this can be found in their early singles and albums, but there are also a good number of tracks from their later output that hit the mark.

One of my favourite Beatles tracks, and one that is not often at the forefront of cover albums, is Penny Lane, a highly celebrated non-album single from the Sergeant Pepper era that is a perfect summation of the Lennon-McCartney song-writing dynamic. Hearing a tribute album that puts the track front and centre was a fantastic discovery for me, and Jeff Lake and Cellophane Flowers do a tremendous job of putting their own spin on the song, as well as a number of other Beatles greats.

Jeff Lake and Cellophane Flowers are a group consisting of singer and band leader Jeff Lake along with a group of classical string instrumentalists who have become well renowned for their highly entertaining neo-classical interpretations of Beatles songs. A Beatles cover album is hardly an original idea, so any artist who does it needs to be very confident in their own ability to produce something distinct, and I definitely think Jeff Lake and Cellophane Flowers achieve that here. Across the album there is a mix of different Beatles songs, and they have impressively diverged from many of the more familiar and over-played tracks. The neo-classical format they take is far from static either, crossing many different sonic palettes within the broad abilities of this genre.

Penny Lane was already a song with a focus on orchestral sounds, so it makes a lot of sense to elevate the classical elements of the track to an all-encompassing level. There's a beautiful minimalism to this rendition that really brings out the the brilliance of the tune from the baroque production layers of the original. Jeff Lake's singing is very intriguing, conveying similar vocal timbres to McCartney but with a certain emotive edge that the original track perhaps missed. There isn't the same harmonies that defined the chorus of the original, instead Jeff Lake's bare vocal sits wonderfully on it's own, completing the perfectly performed simplicity of this cover.

You hear Beatles covers so often it can easily become a bit boring, but this is not one of these occasions. By stripping back Penny Lane and then reviving it in sting quartet fashion, Jeff Lake and Cellophane Flowers have produced a wonderful and unique cover of one of the Beatles best songs.


You can listen to the entire Penny Lane album on various platforms, and find out more about Jeff Lake and Cellophane Flowers, on their official website.

You can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram


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